Bruce Cameron receives a letter from a prospective purchaser of a wild tract of land in Tennessee that he has learned that squatters have settled upon it. Cameron sends his son, Hal, to look up the matter and eject the squatters. These squatters prove to be Dan and Jake Hawkins, young hunters, and their sister Mab. Hal secures an order of eviction from the court and proceeds to the township to give the warrant to the constable. The constable, in sympathy with the squatters, warns Hal that he will be shot if he attempts to carry out his purpose. The constable then proceeds to the squatters' place and assures the two boys that if they kill Hal they will not be prosecuted. Previous to this, Jake and Dan have decreed that Mab shall marry Nat Craig, a dissolute young hunter. Well-armed, the two boys and the girl scatter in the woods to await the coming of Hal. While Hal is resting on a rock reading, Mab comes upon him. He is the first man of the outer world to enter her life. She instinctively admires him and is convinced that he is not the hated owner of the land. Yet she decides to shoot him and is only prevented by the picture book Hal holds in his hands. She can draw and she loves pictures. Laying down her gun, she approaches. Hal is impressed with her round, healthy body and smiling face. They become better acquainted and he gives her his card. When she is gone, he decides it is too late to visit the squatters, unaware that she is one of them. On the following day they meet again and the attraction deepens. Mab takes the card to the sheriff to learn the name upon it; she can neither read nor write. She learns that the man she loves is the man her brothers are after, the man whom she should hate. Her brothers go gunning for Hal that day and Mab is resigned to not interfere. But her love triumphs and she sketches a warning on paper and fastens it to a tree at the trysting place. He sees it and decides to go away. She manages to meet him and denounces him as her enemy and the enemy of her brothers. He declares his love and urges her to marry him. She refuses and when he is gone the full realization of her hopeless plight comes upon her. Returning home, Hal persuades his father to send the Hawkins a deed to the land. Later, he receives a queer letter, on an envelope is pinned to the visiting card he gave Mab and on the paper is a drawing showing the girl holding out her arms to him. In the woods he finds her full of life and ambition to reach a higher plane of living.